Yows – my motherboard burned out, and there I was five days without a computer. So my two-month-old computer already has problems. Bummer, man. No idea what I have been doing these last few days. Wish I could remember, but I can’t so I don’t think I’m going to bother.
Saturday was a busy day with lots of preparation. We told Zen that if he did poo poo on the toilet, and not into his underwear or daipers, we would take him on the bus and train. Well, he did it well, so I had to make good on my promise and I took him on the bus and train. From here to Clementi MRT, then on the train, then out to Boon Lay and back to Clementi. In Clementi he kicked up a stink, so I took him to Bukit Batok. There he kicked up a stink again, but this time I was firm and we took the bus home. Sunday we took Zen to see his first film – the Incredibles. Very nice and fun. Cool visiting Great World City for the first time, cool bringing Zen into the darkened room, not so cool seeing the many dull commercials for crap products. One trailer only. Zen enjoyed the film, everybody did, and nobody left the theater with frostbite. At one point in the middle of the movie Zen was moaning about leaving and going for a bus or train ride again, but we kept him on our lap and he finished the movie. Went home, and he fell asleep in the car. Got home, Zen slept, we did more moving around and arranging stuff for Mum and Dad – basically moving the stuff out of our office to make a bedroom for them, the computer went into our bedroom. Went off to Clementi to meet Ailing for food – great, great, great. Ate at a new place to us, had seats at a nice spot where Zen could see his favorite things – buses, trains, and taxis. By evening strange things were happening with the computer, though – first it booted up, but the mouse was frozen. Then it wouldn’t boot up and the fan went into overdrive. Weird. Then… I went to bed. Monday was a pretty regular day, I just hung out and did my work. Left at 6 on the nose, went off home, collected the computer, took it off to the Apple Centre to have the guy take a look at it. It was even screwier at this point – he took one look at it and said it needed to go into the shop – hardware problem. This one is only two months old, how can it already be having hardware problems???!! Went home, frustrated and angry, but at least it’s starting out. Tuesday more preparations. Wednesday was a regular day at work, in the evening went to eat at the Singapore Cricket Club with Adam from Citi, a 20-year member there. Ate bratwurst and rosti potatoes as we talked about how huge Citi is. Went home, slept, waited for mum and dad. They got in at 3 A.M. after some airport and taxi misadventures, late but sound. Went to sleep, woke up and Zen saw Oma and Opa again. Of course he was totally shy. No matter. Off to work, very normal Thursday. Got home early-ish, as I left work at 5:30, then took a cab from Clementi to pick Zen up. Naoko came late, we all had a dinner together that she cooked. Zen ate barely anything, was grumpy, then went to sleep late. Nice to see Mum and Dad again. Friday, got creamed at chess by Mark Lee. Another Citibank event at 11 in a restaurant. Yummy Italian food and some speeches. Got home late, hung out, chatted, played with Zen. Saturday was a good day – went in the morning to get a new bicycle and to the bank. Some problems deciding on a bike, and the bank was closed by the time we got there – by 5 minutes – but at the end of it we have a new 18-speed mountain bike with basket and child seat for $175, not too great but also not too expensive either. Nice gear changer, good brakes, and basically pretty OK. Zen went to sleep early, so off we went to Apple to pick up the computer, now newly fixed. Ralph was supposed to webcam, but never did. We went off to dinner at the local diner, no beer but good food, another Deepavali celebration was happening at the community centre, off we went downtown on the double-decker 174 bus. Got to see the Christmas lights. Wandered around downtown a lot – saw CHIJMES stuff and also Raffles Hotel. Took the train to Clementi, so Zen was happy, then a cab home. Zen got to sleep late, I stayed up until 2 A.M. drawing and hanging out. Sunday we thought about going to the Padang to the Standard Chartered marathon carnival, but everybody was tired. Did chores – Naoko went shopping, I took Zen to the park and to the mall, then we ate, and set up the Christmas tree. Came back and went for a swim with Zen, Mum and Dad were already in the pool for the second time today. Mum and dad went off to see a concert at Victoria hall, and Naoko and I talked about Christmas presents. I think nearly everything is planned for already, good. Zen was well-behaved. Once he did his poo poo all by himself, we didn’t even hear him announce “baba mama, now go poopoo on toilet,” he just came back after it was all done – no wipe, of course. Then another time he was so into decorating the Christmas tree he peed his pants – oops!! He played by himself a lot – trains, trucks, cards, drawng… Tonight he insisted on watching Spiderman 2 until 10:30, but off to bed, and quickly asleep. I had a bit of quiet time, got some work done – proofreading for Miriam, and then some prep for tomorrow. We had a bit of panic – after the bath, one of Zen’s testicles seemed swollen, although he wasn’t in any discomfort or pain. Then later, after we looked things up on the internet, it seemed OK again. May be a regular swelling of the epididymis, could be a hernia, who knows… Zen wailed about not going to school on Monday. This is a regular Sunday/Monday morning thing, but it seemed a bit odd. He seemed so earnest about it. Maybe he doesn’t like the food they serve on Mondays?
And now, the weekend is over, and another week begins anew. Hopefully this will be a good week – last week I did interviewing, meeting, eating, and greeting. I also created 5 comics, some of which seem to have gone over well. This week I write – perhaps as much as 10 pages of stuff!!!
In the walkman: Pale Saints, I’m Sore, David Lynch, Lynched remix project, Judy and Mary.
Zen digging the concrete scenery.
Dad is “wonderin’ where the lions are…”
Family pic in front of some Raffles place or another.
Zen and his favorite friends – Pooh and Tigger.
Zen and his action man.
Forming funny sleeping positions again…
